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Magic the GSD is Thriving on Merrick Food People ask me all the time what food they should be feeding their dogs, but when my friend Paul asked on behalf of his beloved dog Magic — who has a typically sensitive stomach for a German Shepherd — I was afraid to tell him. Generally when […]

Apparently, August is Itchy Dog Month I’ve heard of National Dog Day in August but I only recently discovered that all of August has been dubbed “the itchiest month.” This happened to be when my skin-sensitive Wanda the Weimaraner has reacted yet again to the grasses in the fields where I take her and Maisie […]

Space Dogs — a Darling Little Book Space Dogs: The Story of the Celebrated Canine Cosmonauts (photos by Martin Parr, text by Richard Hollingham) is a fascinating little book about the period during the Cold War when the Russian space program sent dogs into space. Never to return. The book is filled with photos and […]

Summer Binge-watching the NY Dog & Cat Film Festivals ON DEMAND It’s summertime- and the livin’ is easy. But where can you turn for good entertainment on summer evenings, when everybody has come inside, worn out from too much outdoor sports, gardening, grilling, visitors, and vacays or stay-cays? Even with all the choices on cable […]

Breezing (relatively speaking) Through the Nightmare of an ACL Repair My majestically athletic, exuberant Weimaraner Maisie made it all the way to age six before she tore her ACL ligament in May. I had been living in absolute dread of it tearing for months before it happened. I was doing everything I could to protect […]

Four Paws Up for Bissell Need a new vacuum cleaner for all your dog fur? Are you ready to Spring for a rug shampooer for the rest of the mess dogs leave behind? I was! My carpet shampooer recently petered out, after a dozen years of faithful weekly service trying to stay ahead of 8 […]

Icky Ears? A lot of dogs have ears that are really bothering them—itchy, painful, irritated—and their people do not realize how much discomfort there are in. Do you have a dog with floppy ears—with flaps that hang down and create the perfect environment for bacteria and yeast to flourish? Does your dog scratch at her […]

Make A Shelter Dog’s Day: Take Him for Ice Cream I recently interviewed a multi-faceted graduate student, Allison Andrukonis, at the Animal and Food Sciences Department of Texas Tech University. She is doing a study on “compassion fatigue” in shelter workers—specifically “burn-out” and the emotional effects of euthanasia on the spirits of shelter workers. I […]

What Can Possibly Be The Problem With Grain-Free Dog Food? I’m glad that the alarm bells have stopped ringing about the dangers of grain-free dog food. For a little while, there was a flurry of articles and cautionary advice about avoiding the dog foods labeled as “grain free” because there was a heart condition called […]

The Film Festivals are Coming to the Berkshires – and I’m Coming, Too! I’m pretty darned happy that my local independent art house movie theater, Images Cinema in Williamstown, Massachusetts, is going to be hosting my NY Cat Film Festival this coming Saturday May 4th at 1 PM (with 2 different programs), and then on […]